The Life of a Spy
by ohvausealex
Summary: Piper currently has the coolest job in the world, but it definitely has its complications, and now, she could lose it all. AU: Piper is a spy and Alex is working for the drug cartel. Multi-chapter. Vauseman. Totally non-canon. T for language and adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this is it! I am finally doing a multi-chapter fic. I'm not sure how the continuity and stuff is gonna go but I'll try and update it pretty regularly, unless everyone hates it haha. Anyway, sorry if it starts off a little slow but it'll get more interesting, promise. **

**Enjoy x**

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"Shit goddamnit Piper!" Petite fingers tightly clasped a half empty coffee cup as the blonde woman frantically scurried into her office block, cursing herself under her breath for the duration. She stood in the elevator impatiently tapping her foot, until finally the doors opened, upon which she bolted in the general direction of her desk, shaking her head. "Piper Chapman you are _so_ fucking-"

"LATE!" A voice boomed. "Again. Not good, Chapman."

Piper visibly cringed as her boss, Richard, sidled up alongside her and rested a condescending hand on her shoulder. Richard was the kind of guy who made Piper want to gag. Tall, too much gel in his hair, smothered in overpoweringly strong aftershave that didn't even smell good, and was just generally slimy. It wasn't that she didn't like guys, it was just that she found guys _this_ next to impossible to tolerate, which was super fucking awkward, what with Richard being her boss and everything. So, she had no choice but to oblige.

"I'm so sorry, Richard. It won't happen again." Piper flashed him the best fake smile she could possibly muster, and luckily, it seemed to work, as Richard removed his ever-lingering hand from her shoulder. He rolled his eyes.

"You say that now, Chapman." Richard smiled a bit too widely, his frightfully dark, hollow eyes aggressively piercing into Piper's like probes. "You've only been here for all of _two years_, Christ. And sure, the FBI has changed over that time, but you haven't. I'll be watching you arrive late at least once a week for the rest of eternity at this rate." He deadpanned. "Team meeting in fifteen and you'd better be fucking ready, it's a big one." And with a wink that made Piper shudder, Richard breezed off down the endless corridor, probably to go and jerk off in his office, leaving Piper in his wake, disgusted, and now even later than she was five minutes ago.

With a sigh of defeat, Piper dejectedly dumped her stuff at her immaculately tidy desk and prepared herself for the forthcoming meeting. Yes, it was true that working for the FBI, essentially as a spy, (or whatever her actual job title was), could be considered the coolest job in the world, but most of the time it was just a shitstorm of stress and the dullest paperwork ever known to man. Piper had locked away more risk assessments and routine health questionnaires in a filing cabinet than big-time criminals in prison, and the only thing she really 'spied' on as such was the coffee machine down the hall, to see when it was at its quietest. Oh, how she hated gossip-filled run-ins with coworkers that she didn't particularly know, or like, at the coffee machine. But then again, Piper felt that for her tender age of 23, she was doing pretty well for herself. She'd graduated with a good degree, gotten herself a good job, (even though she wasn't allowed to tell anyone what it was), and overall, she felt pretty damn cool for once. So now, as she lazily reclined over the back of her office chair, Piper exhaled, praying that the new case was going to be a good one, because otherwise her only shred of hope that today was going to be a good day would be jeopardized, and that would put a firm and immediate end to her already waning motivation. Mercifully, the clock told her that it was time to head down to the conference room for what would undoubtedly be a half-hour show of Richard parading himself around the table, chest puffed out, trying to market himself to all the pretty ladies and simultaneously assert his authority to the men because that was just the type of sickening person he was. If they were lucky, he might even give them some information about the new case. _Ah, the life of a spy,_ Piper mused to herself.

The conference room was one of Piper's favourite rooms in FBI HQ. Its entirety was black: the table, chairs, and even the walls, floors and ceilings were made from a brilliant, glistening black marble; it looked pristine. The expansive room had no windows, instead, various screens covered the walls, all showing maps of the world or America, current threats to national security, the stock market, weather, and national news. But Piper had always thought that the coolest screen was the biggest and most central one. This screen was used to facilitate important conference calls between the FBI and the other governmental agencies of America, such as the CIA. Sometimes, the white house would have to get involved in a meeting, and Piper always reveled in the surreal feeling of sitting in a conference with the president's face filling the giant screen, looking down on all those sat around the table and actively joining in with the conversations. Not many people got to do _that _in their jobs, even though it only happened very rarely in Piper's.

When all the attendees were comfortably sat down, Richard lazily tossed an enourmas batch of thick files onto the unnecessarily long table before collapsing into his unnecessarily large leather chair and sticking his feet up onto the table, crossing them casually. _Dick_, Piper thought. It only took the smallest of actions for Richard to piss her off, he was just so aggravating.

"This," his deep voice suddenly alerted Piper, causing her to jolt upright. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the collection of case files containing information on what is currently the largest and most dangerous drug ring in America. And America," he looked around the room, nodding steadily, "wants us to find these people and lock their sorry asses away." He then stood up and began to pace around the table, something which Piper found extremely uncomfortable, almost predatory, as if he was a hungry animal waiting to catch its innocent prey. "They are dealing drugs," he continued, "growing drugs, exporting drugs, and also", here, Ricahrd paused behind Piper's chair, bending down towards her ear before snarling into it, "_importing drugs." _Piper wanted to be sick due to the undesirable close proximity between herself and Richard's huge, muscular form, yet she maintained a steady, steely gaze, eyes locked with the far wall as if her life depended on it, and imminently, Richard relented and resumed pacing hungrily around the table. _Fucking disgusting._ Piper shook her head a fraction to rid herself of any thoughts of him but then realised that she hadn't been concentrating throughout any of what Richard had just said. And was he now talking directly to her? Yep. _Shit._

"Jesus, Chapman, we don't have all fucking day. Some of us have international drug cartels to crack, and the scum of society to mercilessly imprison for the rest of their lives. Oh, wait! You're one of those people, Chapman! So hurry the fuck up and pick." He was starting to get irritated; Piper could see it in his body language, all fidgety and constant.

"What am I picking?" she sighed hopelessly. Richard violently facepalmed and made sort of stomach-churning, patronising joke about whether he needed to 'show her the ropes'. Piper was getting annoyed now. She was well aware of how to do her job and Richard knew that, but he must have also known that his constant, overbearing presence in her work life was distracting her in the worst possible way. No one decent would sense rejection so strong and keep persisting with the slimy offers, sexual jokes, and all the other shit he'd handed her over the past two years; apart from Richard, apparently. _Nice one Piper, there you go again, you're losing it._

"Aaaaand too late Chapman. Everyone picked whilst you were hovering over there, fantasising about whatever it is you like to fantasise about."

The only thing Piper fantasised about these days was all of the interesting ways that she could remove Richard from this planet.

But now, Richard began to advance towards her and Piper recoiled, feeling threatened. "Too shy to share?" He laughed, and it sounded evil. Piper wanted to get out. "I could give you something to fantasise about. Right now." He moved in even further towards Piper, god knows what to do, but Piper ducked and darted past him, where she finally snapped.

"You are _fucking_ disgusting!" She spat. "Nothing is ever going to happen between us. You need to fucking _stop, _Richard. I could get you put down for harassment pretty damn easily!" Piper screeched, but Richard just snorted and thrust the last, untouched, and worryingly, thinnest file from the case into her arms.

"Good luck with that one, Chapman." He smirked, his face expressing nothing but pure menacing. "Nobody picked that file because, as you can see from its size, nobody's got _shit_ on that one." He turned on his heel to leave the room before pausing and whirling back around and adding, in a mocking tone, "oh, and by the way, if you don't find the person in that file, you're fucking _fired_, Chapman. Enjoy." And with that, he departed, leaving Piper actually shaking in anger, fear, and repulsion. She bit back her onslaught of tears and tried to regulate her breathing, and then looked down at the file in her quivering hands; the file that contained information about a criminal who was soon to become the focal point of her life. Piper felt a sudden buzz rush through her and she gripped the file harder. She would find this person. She would dedicate all of her time and energy into hunting them down and bringing them to justice. There was no way that she was going to lose her job to a filthy criminal. Piper's fingers traced over the name on the file: _Alex Vause._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, this is it! I am finally doing a multi-chapter fic. I'm not sure how the continuity and stuff is gonna go but I'll try and update it pretty regularly, unless everyone hates it haha. Anyway, sorry if it starts off a little slow but it'll get more interesting, promise. Enjoy x**

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"Damn." An exasperated Piper tossed her head back and groaned as her computer yet again failed to provide her with any further information on Alex Vause, rather it simply mirrored what the papers in the case file said:

**Age: **Believed to be 23+

**DOB: **Unknown

**Gender: **Female

**Appearance: **Unknown

**Criminal Activity: **Drug ring involvement {precise role unknown}

Piper frowned. This was hopeless; she'd never seen a case file with such bare bones of information, and even then, her strenuous searches of the FBI's mainframe database were throwing up nothing to help her either, and that was practically unheard of. Something felt so wrong here. Defeated for the time being, Piper got up and trudged down the hall to the coffee machine, where, thank goodness, there was only one other person. _Hallelujah indeed._

"Hey, Piper," her coworker, Lucy, greeted the blonde, who nodded hello as she began to fill her mug with coffee whilst noticing that Lucy's eyes were a little bit wide. "Uh, could you just um, come with me for a second? It'll be real quick, promise." Before Piper could retaliate and stress the importance of her current workload, Lucy had dragged her into the adjacent toilets and was darting around to check that they were alone, which they were. Lucy let out a deep breath and steadied herself. "Okay, I'm gonna tell you this once, and only once. You didn't hear _anything _from me." Piper nodded dumbly, baffled by the sudden intensity. "I know we're not meant to discuss any of this stuff outside of general meetings, but you need to hear this." Piper felt queasy. "Richard has blocked access to loads of files in the database, ones that relate to _your_ new case, apparently." She whispered quickly. "No employees can see anything relating to the person you're investigating, apart from some of the head guys down in tech and Richard himself, obviously. He said that if he can't have you how he wants you, he'll have you fired instead, and soon, Piper."

Piper's jaw was practically on the floor and it took her a further twenty seconds to try and process the information that had just spewed uncontrollably out of Lucy's mouth. "How…. How the hell do you know this?" She eventually managed in a weak voice. Lucy rolled her eyes and reminded Piper how much of a gossip Richard's PA was, before asking her timidly what she planned to do. "I'll tell you what I'm going to _fucking _do, Lucy." Piper's face was absolutely thunderous. "I'm going to crack this _fucking _case, and shut the whole _fucking_ thing down like it's the easiest _fucking _thing I have _ever _done." And with that, Piper stormed out of the toilets, angrily swiping up her lukewarm coffee cup as she powerfully strode down the corridor and into the elevator. "Basement." She flatly instructed the voice operation system.

The FBI basement was one of the most exciting rooms in the world. Piper always imagined that _this_ was what the real world thought that being a spy was all about, but unfortunately, she didn't descend into the basement very often. In fact, it was like Christmas: the most exciting thing ever and bursting at the seams with shiny new toys, but only occurring once a year, (well, maybe a little bit more frequently than that, but not regularly enough for her liking.) The basement housed the weaponry, gadgets, and also, the most intelligent people in the FBI, in Piper's opinion. There were scatterings of scientists and technicians wearing labcoats and thick glasses, their hands tirelessly mending, creating, and adjusting. There were sounds of gadgets undergoing testing, scientists observing and keyboards furiously tapping. Then, at the far end of the basement resided the FBI's supercomputer, rarely to be seen without its proud owner and creator, Sam.

Piper's heels clicked unwaveringly on the floor and she approached Sam's chair, wrenching it round when she reached it. "Sammy." She greeted him, nodding politely.

"Hey bitch." Sam's casual reply was comical because it was the last thing you would expect from an adorable, short, half Chinese guy wearing huge, boxy glasses. Typically, Sam was a nerd, but Piper was a bit of a dork deep down, so actually they got along ridiculously well both in and out of work. It was safe to say that Sam was probably one of Piper's best friends; impossibly intelligent, hilarious, and, unsurprisingly, the head of tech at the FBI. And it was due to these facts that Piper had no qualms over enlisting his help with her current 'technical issues.'

"I have a problem." She said bluntly. "You need to fix it."

Sam raised an eyebrow and smiled curiously. Piper chuckled because she knew exactly what Sam was going to say, it was the same question every single time. He looked up at her and smiled sweetly. "If I do it, can I-"

"No, Sammy." Piper immediately interjected. "You are not allowed to tag along next time I go undercover and you know that. Sorry." Piper always felt a little pang of remorse when she had to reject poor Sam, but undercover situations were for trained agents, and in the same way that her prospects of fixing a computer were crappy, Sam wouldn't stand a chance undercover. Anyway, even if Piper had wanted to bring her little techie along on her next excursion, it was otally against about a million policies and organisational agreements, and it wasn't as if she was in any shit with Richard already. No, none at all. But here was Sam, giving her puppy dog eyes, and so Piper's heart wrenched and she softened a fraction, (her self control skills were lacking), and she told Sam that he could be her getaway driver should she ever need one. Thus far, she hadn't needed on, but this glimmer of hope would fuel his happiness until the next time she asked for a favour, at least.

"I'm listening…" Sam linked his hands together and titled his head upwards, and Piper chuckled because he looked like a low-budget Hollywood villain, but her mind instantaneously snapped back to the task at hand.

"Can Richard see which records, files, profiles and shit I've viewed on my employee computer account?" Sam nodded in response to her question, and proceeded to blurt out some technical explanation involving jargon that Piper could not, and would not ever understand, so eventually she raised a hand to cease his rambling. "Fine. In that case, I need you to find me a way to view all everything in the database that relates to my current case, because that dick Richard has blocked me from all of it. He wants me to bomb on this operation so that he can fire me for refusing to have sex with him, so if you could sort something out for me, that would be fucking brilliant thanks." Piper's lack of pauses served only to convey her anger and desperation further, and Sam was simply staring at her in pure shock.

He scratched his head and exhaled. "That man is a class A douchebag." He shook his head before swiveling his chair back round so that he was facing the ridiculously large supercomputer, aka his baby. Piper looked on as her friend got to work, fingers avidly tapping and clicking, and occasionally pausing for thought as the cogs in his unparalleled mind turned. The job was actually done within about five minutes, and Sam then explained to Piper, (in simplistic terms, as she had put it), that he had set her up a maintenance account that could be easily used to view any file she wanted at any time without Richard knowing who the owner was; it would just look like a computer-operated random database sweep.

"Genius…" Piper slowly spoke what was on her mind.

"I know I am." Sam jokingly fired back as he stretched his arms out above his head and yawned lazily before handing Piper a scrappy bit of Paper. "Username and password. Write them down elsewhere and then shred that." He tapped his nose.

"I owe you a drink for this, Sammy, thanks." Piper fist bumped him.

"Obviously not anytime soon though," Sam mockingly chided, "because it looks like you'll be spending alllllll your spare time stalking your new criminal." Piper scrunched up her features and told him that she actually had much better things to be doing in her spare time, thank you very much, to which Sam snorted.

"Oh please." He waved his hand dismissively, "It's not like you're having any sex to keep you busy, so I can't see what else you'd have on your agenda to occupy yourself." Piper gritted her teeth and shook her head at him, _so fucking cheeky._ She clucked her tongue and punched his arm before turning once again to walk away, but then sighed gloomily in the elevator as she moped over how Sam had, annoyingly, been totally right. But who could blame her after having to periodically dodge so many of Richard's disgusting advances? Piper wasn't even mildly interested in romance right now; she did _not _have time for men and their and their attitudes and their dicks.

The only person that Piper was interested in right now was Alex Vause, whoever the hell she was.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** **Thanks for all the reviews etc again, much appreciated **** So I promise this is the last bit of rambling before Piper actually gets down to business, I'm just building up to it, so bear with. Also must shout out Em at the start of this chapter because basically her keen love for this fic is spurring me on a lot. Thanks bby and to everyone else who's reading x**

**Disclaimer is 'I wish I owned it all but I don't, wah'.**

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It had now been two hours since Piper had began compiling every shred of information she could find about, or relating to Alex Vause, and despite now having access to the entire FBI database, the profits of her labours were still pretty minimal compared to the stage at which she'd normally be at on a case by this time. She concluded, therefore, that Alex Vause obviously kept herself well hidden and knew exactly how to handle herself in America's seedy drug ring underworld, _how annoying:_ Piper zero, Alex one.

Piper opened another file in which Alex was tagged: a location file. Any of Alex's known movements would show up here, but if it was as useful as any of the other files involving Alex, Piper quickly deduced that it wouldn't be helpful in the slightest.

The file was loading, the wifi was shit today, she noted. Typical.

Piper rested her chin in her hands and stared gormlessly at the screen as she tried to endure the sight of the loading bar inching its way to one hundred percent painfully slowly, almost as if it was taunting her. She tapped the screen, agitated, and huffed grumpily. It was currently settled on seventy percent.

"I probably could've fucking found her in the time you're wasting me! Damn machine." She hissed quietly at the screen, realising how volatile she was today.

Seventy-seven percent.

Piper lightly traced her fingers over the plethora of notes that she'd already gathered, most of them simply giving background information about the drug cartel. Everyone else had it so easy, as there was just about enough information on every other member of the ring so far to catch any of them without much hassle.

Eighty-nine percent.

All Piper had learnt so far was that the guy in charge of the whole thing was called Kubra, and that he was a really nasty piece of work. Piper hedged her bets that he'd be prioritised for capture due to his importance in the case, and the fact that he was arguably the most dangerous of all involved. He'd be going away for a countless number of years. Piper spun on her chair to relieve her boredom.

Ninety-six percent...Ninety-seven...Ninety-eight...Ninety-niiiiiiine-

"SHIT!" Piper jumped as the phone rang, abruptly disturbing the silence that had descended over her office, and in shock, she fell off her chair. Great. "Jeeeesus!" She winced in pain, finding her own behaviour ridiculous and feeling like an idiot, whilst simultaneously thanking all deities that she had her own office. Who would've ever thought that she'd end up in this job; a job that involved being discrete, cool, calm and collected. The irony was too much for Piper today, way too much.

She felt around on her desk from the floor, and eventually her hand grasped the receiver, which she clumsily fumbled with before hastily bringing it to her ear. "Hello?" She said, probably sounding slightly strained to the person on the other end as she hauled herself back up into her chair, listening to the rapid stream of words coming out of their mouth. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "No way." She immediately began to frantically prepare a pen and paper, biting her lip in anticipation before poising herself to write. "Hit me with it."

Ten minutes later, she slammed the receiver down victoriously with a wide smile plastered across her face and a feeling of progress swelling in her stomach. Two members of the ring had _already_ been found despite the fact that the case had only been open today, and one of them had volunteered information about Alex Vause in order to get time shaved off his sentence. _Success._

Piper grasped her piece of paper and looked over it in disbelief. Currently, this tiny scrap of paper may as well have been a bar of gold, a treasured possession, because that's how significant it was. Piper reread what she had written during the phone conversation to check that nothing was too illegible; when she got panicked, her writing neatness disappeared along with her logic. Once again, _how the fuck did I get this job,_ she thought.

'Tall, dark hair, grey eyes, black glasses, tattoos on right upper arm and forearm.' The paper read, and Piper scrunched her nose up, Alex Vause even sounded like someone involved in crime, kinda shady looking and probably very imposing. Not really Piper's thing. But there was something else written on the paper though, nearer to the bottom, almost as if it was an afterthought: 'Subway In'. Piper blinked and scratched her head at the random phrase that the captured man had given the authorities, insisting that it related to Alex, but giving nothing more away. Piper was well aware that further research would be needed on that, but was sure that somehow it would be useful.

She turned her attentions to her computer screen, which was now displaying the location file from earlier, finally. Piper listlessly scrolled through the file: nothing, nothing, nothing, noth- _wait. _Something. Piper leaned in towards the screen to make sure she wasn't imagining things, but she wasn't. She'd made a breakthrough, a small and possibly irrelevant one, but it was a breakthrough nonetheless. Things were finally looking up. She highlighted the information, it was short but sweet:

**Past and/or present location(s): **New York City

Piper gripped the edge of her desk and stared at the tiny segment of text in front of her. Alex Vause was in New York City, and so was she.

Five seventeen, the clock read, and Piper decided that she'd leave at half past, because she needed to tie a few things up before heading home. Procrastination overcame her though, and she now gazed out of the window through narrowed eyes scanning the skyline of the city and the warren of avenues beneath it. "Where are you, Alex Vause?" She murmured under her breath as her eyes followed the tiny people who darted around the streets below, bustling past one another in order to get home as quickly as possible before waking up the next morning to do it all over again. Piper was thankful that her job was, if one thing, _occasionally_ not mundane. She held her 'gold bar paper' up in front of her again. _'Subway In'_... she mused to herself. _What is that even supposed to mean?_ Piper racked her brains for a further three and a half minutes before it hit her. She was such an idiot today, but she didn't hesitate to blame the stress of that morning.

She impatiently jiggled the mouse on her computer to fire it back up and opened Google, typing wildly before hitting go and consequently almost falling off her chair again as her eyes fixed automatically upon the first result that the search engine had thrown back. Piper was right, she sure was an idiot today. Instantaneously, she powered off her computer and scrambled around her office, blindly stuffing any nearby papers into her bag in a bull-in-a-china-shop fashion, but the truth was, she was so madly desperate to get home that unfortunately, a desk sweep was the best option right now.

"Fuck you Richard, fuck you." She growled confidently as she sprinted out of the now practically empty FBI NYC building. "You just fucking watch me." Piper wanted to break out into dance on the spot; she was so overcome with determination and passion ridiculously suddenly, and it was like a new sense of purpose was beginning to surge through her veins, because she loved her job too much to lose it, and she hated Richard too much to let him get away with this. As Piper strutted out of the wide glass doors at the front of the building, she smirked.

It was time to go home and get changed; New York's Upper East Side awaited her tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So here is the chapter that you've probably been waiting for – bring on Alex! This chapter took me ages as I tried super hard to make it good, but instead it just turned out really damn long, so sorry about that woops, we'll have to go with quantity not quality... Also, thanks for the reviews again guys, really appreciate it you're all brill xxx**

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It was gone nine o'clock when Piper finally reached the destination that promised at least a small hope of finding Alex Vause. She stared at its tacky, multicoloured neon lights and tiny exterior in pure disbelief. The 'Subway _Inn',_ (not fucking '_in'_), was the Upper East Side's most loved, and pretty much sole dive bar, which was ironic in itself, considering that the majority of the wealthy crowd in this privileged part of the city probably had no fucking idea what a dive bar even was. Piper thought that places like this only existed in East Village these days, yet here it sat, quietly nestled in amongst some of the fanciest leisure establishments that New York had to offer. Piper looked the grotty building up and down again and chuckled at how fitting it was for Alex Vause's supposedly regular haunt, as it was small and delightfully unfussed; inconspicuous in a conspicuous area. Piper didn't know how much money Alex had, but she guessed that she wasn't _that_ important in Kubra's ring, because since when did powerful drug barons want to put girls in charge? She probably just carried his drug money, maybe slept with him to get cash as well, the usual for many girls involved in this type of crime unfortunately. Despite the description of her appearance, maybe Alex was just a poor, helpless victim of the disgusting men of the ring.

But anyway, Piper wondered if Alex journeyed to this part of the city to at least _feel_super wealthy and in control, yet remain hidden. At this stage in her internal dialogue, Piper almost felt sorry for Alex Vause. She quickly shook herself free of that feeling though; sympathy for the person that you're meant to be tracking, investigating, and eventually sending to prison was not exactly the best start to her mission.

Piper did a quick scan of the bar as soon as she entered: nobody who even remotely matched the description, it was just a grimey cesspit of all ages of men who reminded her a lot of Richard, predatory, and then a few small, random groups of rowdy younger people who'd obviously just stumbled across this place and were just here for a good time and cheap booze. _Fuck. _Piper perched herself awkwardly on one of the barstools, unsure as to whether she should even bother buying a drink because she felt _so_uncomfortable, but then again, she had a job to do. _I'll give it fifteen minutes._

But twelve minutes passed and Piper had already swatted away two keen, smarmy male pursuers, and now a third was giving her bother. And despite scoping the room frequently, she still couldn't see anyone who might be Alex Vause.

'Come on baby, just come back to mine.' The older man before her had shuffled his way along the sticky bar and was now less than half a metre away from Piper, who did not enjoy any unwanted invasion of her personal space. She rolled her eyes and shook her head firmly, turning her body towards the man with yellow teeth and hollow, bloodshot eyes and telling him for the umpteenth time that the answer was no. But then, without warning, his hand came to rest on the small of Piper's back and he began to lean in to kiss her, telling her that 'it'd be fun'. Piper swore she was about to throw up as her body went rigid and the smell of the alcohol and cigars on his breath filled her nostrils. She forcefully shoved him away.

'Back. Off.' She eyed him dangerously, but he smirked and moved in once again, his eyes wild and hungry and evil this time. Piper instinctively reached for the pepper spray she carried around in her pocket whenever she went out alone on jobs like this, but as she began to draw it out of her pocket, her vision was blocked as a figure wedged itself between her and the man.

'Hey, fuckwad, did you not hear her?' A deep, gravelly voice said that captivated Piper's attention without hesitation. 'If you wanna keep your dick intact, I suggest you do as she fucking said and back. the fuck. off.' And then Piper's vision was restored, the first thing she saw being the disgusting man hastily pop himself off the stool before swiftly exiting the bar altogether, those discoloured, bloodshot eyes wide in shock.

A relieved Piper then turned to face the now nearly empty bar and swallowed the lump in her throat. She felt tears prick in her eyes as the stress of today and the shock of that situation hit her, and to top it all off, Alex Vause wasn't even fucking here, so tomorrow morning she would be back to square one.

'Margarita, please.' She gloomily told the barman as she swallowed her smotions and sighed as she rested her head in her hands.

'No thank you _and_no drink? Fuck me, is this the way you treat everyone who saves your ass from drunk perverts in bars?'

Piper's ears pricked up, it was that voice again. She'd just assumed that the person who'd helped her had been a decent person who had then taken no further notice of her, but it looked like she had been mistaken. So she turned to her right, where the voice had come from, and suddenly her mind flipped back to her little piece of goldbar paper:

_'Tall, dark hair, grey eyes, black glasses, tattoos on right upper arm and forearm...'_

_Fuck._

This was the person who had saved her, the person with the voice. This was-

'So I see you're pretty bad at formal introductions.' The strikingly attractive woman before her drawled, and held out her hand politely, a cheeky smirk appearing on her face when she noticed that Piper had been rendered speechless, 'well, my name is Alex.' Piper felt the eyes of the infamous Alex Vause on her, and worryingly, she also felt colour rising in her cheeks. _What the fuck? _Alex chuckled deeply, and the sound sent a shiver flying down Piper's spine. She still said nothing, but Alex certainly needed no prompting, 'again, my name is Alex... and I would like a Magarita too, please.' She winked, and Piper stared, maybe a little too much and for a little too long.

But after the initial minutes of registration and shock and confusion, Piper's brain woke up and thankfully, it switched gears. She now had to start her job and find out everything about Alex Vause.

Piper ordered Alex's drink and finally shook her hand. 'I'm Piper.' She replied before realising what she had just done.

_You fucking idiot! You probably could've done smarter things than telling her your real name, maybe you could've just flashed her your FBI badge instead! Idiot idiot idiot!_Piper breathed. _Okay, no, you know what, it's okay, your job is a secret to the world, no one knows. She doesn't know. It's fine. Calm._

Alex was frowning slightly as she watched Piper's expression lapse. 'What's up, kid?' Alex raised one of her immaculately shaped eyebrows, and Piper found herself staring again, 'cat got your tongue?' She laughed lightly, a sound that was quickly becoming something that Piper enjoyed hearing immensely. _Holy fucking shit this is a problem. _

_'_Seriously, am I like, ugly or something? Or do you just not wanna talk to me...Because that would fucking hurt my pride.' Alex smiled that little smile again and adjusted her glasses, and she momentarily looked a little self-conscious as her confident front dropped for a second.

And it was this moment that Piper realised that she was attracted to Alex Vause. Quite a lot.

_BUT SHE'S A WOMAN!_Her brain screeched, and whilst Piper had no issues with gay people, she herself had never 'been gay', and this sent her brain into overdrive. _So does this make me gay? Do I even like her? Am I just drunk? No, I had one fucking drink. I'm so confused. Shit. Fuck. Why is she staring at me again? She's so hot. I've never even looked at a woman like this before. This isn't even happening right now. Woah she looks sexy when she drinks. Fuck, she just licked her lips. Apparently that's one of my 'lesbian turn ons'. Lesbian? When did I even turn lesbian? Am I a full lesbian or part-lesbian? Is that even a thing? Is there like, a scale of how lesbian you are? Oh god, look at her eyes, she's beautiful...AND SHE'S A CRIMINAL AND PROBABLY THE GIRLFRIEND OF THAT KUBRA GUY. Someone kill me._

Piper snapped back to reality finally, (thoroughly embarrassed by her inner ramblings), to see that Alex was staring at her with those deep grey eyes, that had now softened slightly. She was obviously confused by Piper's awkward behaviour. Hell, Piper was confused by Piper's awkward behaviour.

'So... Piper,' Alex rested her chin in her hand. 'Apart from your name... What else do I need to know about you?' Piper found herself yearning uncontrollably to tell Alex everything about every inch of her life, yet also found herself feeling physically sick over this entire situation. She was so strongly attracted to this woman, the woman whom she was soon meant to have enough dirt on to throw into prison. _Fucking say something before she gets bored and leaves._

'Seeing as you've been doing all the talking so far,' Piper began, 'I'll let you continue. What do _I_need to know about _you_, Alex?' She liked the way the name rolled off her tongue. 'What do you do, apart from chasing creepy men away from innocent girls in dive bars? Do you have a boyfriend?' Piper decided to just bite the bullet and dive in at the deep end, asking two important questions straight up. Alex raised an eyebrow and Piper followed, raising one of her own back, playfully. Was she flirting? She idly bit her straw, flashing her perfect teeth, and finished her drink. She was definitely flirting. Flirting with the probable girlfriend of the drug ring king pin who had not yet been caught. Dangerous game.

'So, first you don't talk, and then you ask me every question under the sun? You know, I can't figure you out...' Alex paused and looked down on Piper with a mysterious glint in her eye. 'But anyway,' she continued, 'I work for an international drug cartel.' And there it was, the scale of Piper's newfound problem hit her as it dawned on her that this woman was the criminal she was hunting, was potentially dangerous, and that she needed to get enough information on her for the FBI to take her down.

'Yeeeeah people never know how to react to that one.' Alex half smiled and shrugged. 'I fucking love it. I'm brilliant at moving large amounts of illegal shit, and that's the main thing.' Piper actually admired Alex's 'I don't give a fuck mentality' despite the fact that she would have normally deemed it as cockiness. Piper realised that Alex had completely skimmed over her other question.

'And the boyfriend?' She innocently enquired again.

'I was just coming on to that, actually.' Alex said, a hint of amusement shining in her eyes, causing Piper to realise how keen she'd just sounded, not that she was here to sound keen, she was here to catch a law-breaker, right? Right? _Why, God, WHY?_Piper inwardly screamed. Life was not fair.

'I work with exclusively all guys. But no boyfriend. No fucking way. ' Alex chuckled to herself and Piper felt that she had missed something.

'They're uh... Not your type, then?' Piper probed somewhat cautiously, any information given at any time could be important to the investigation, but also, she was just curious.

'You could say that, yeah.'

Piper was agitated by Alex's cryptic answers. She wanted more. 'So what exactly _is_ your type, Alex?'

'Vaginas.' Alex said, flatly, smirking evilly as she watched Piper's jaw drop open. 'My _type, Piper,'_the blonde had to draw in breath as Alex's voice sunk even deeper and she emphasised her name, 'is blonde, squeaky clean girls who probably went to college, may or may not have a mediocre, fitted-sweater wearing boyfriend sat at home, and have never so much as _looked_at a woman the way you've been looking at me for the past half hour.'

Piper's breath hitched in her throat as Alex brought her mouth down to the blonde's ear. '_You're_ my type. Tell me if I'm wrong, and I'll back off. If you're fucking lucky that is, which is unlikely.' She husked, and Piper thanked the heavens that she was sat on the barstool, else her suddenly weak knees would've had her in a jittery pile of nerves on the floor.

Alex's face was inches away from Piper's, and this time, the pepper spray sat in her pocket didn't even cross Piper's mind. 'Give me your number.' Piper whispered resolutely, wedging her phone into the tension-filled void between Alex's perfect face and her own. Alex blinked and withdrew, grabbing Piper's phone and punching in her number.

'You're quite something, aren't you?' Alex slid Piper's phone back into the blonde's hand, her fingers lingering for a heartbeat longer than they should've. Piper scanned her phone screen and saved Alex's contact. Well, at least she'd achieved something useful from this surreal evening.

'Speak for yourself... Alex Vause.' Piper whispered and bit her lip, firstly wondering what the _fuck_she was doing trying to tease a drug-smuggling lesbian, and secondly, noticing how intently fixated said drug-smuggling lesbian's eyes were on her lips. So she licked them and wondered, once again, _what the FUCK am I doing?_

And then Alex's hand was grazing her thigh and her face was moving towards Piper's again, this time it came so close that the very ends of their lips came into tantalisingly momentary contact, so light that neither could really feel it, before Alex raised an eyebrow and pulled away, a devilish smile appearing on her face.

'You didn't even tell me your last name.' She said innocently, as if that moment had never happened.

'Chapman.' Piper barely managed to get the word out. She did think against giving Alex her real name, but her job was a secret to the world, and she was now a little drunk, so who cared? Alex wouldn't know who she was, nor were there any means for her to find out.

'Well, _Piper Chapman,'_Alex's tone was dripping with something dark, lusty, and intoxicatingly enticing, 'you're a fucking tease, I will admit. But I would watch yourself, because the moment you start to fuck with _me_like that?' Alex paused, before, in one swift motion, trailblazing her hand up Piper's thigh and leaving her fingers lingering, painfully faintly, just above the hem of the blonde's dress, where her skin prickled under the touch and her eyes widened. 'I will make you feel things that no man, or woman, for that matter, will_ever_ be able to make you feel.' Piper felt Alex's fingers dance even _further_ under her dress and she unexpectedly let out a quiet moan of blissful enjoyment, at which point, Alex's hand was revoked immediately, her work was done.

'You'd better call me, _Pipes.' _

And so, Piper watched Alex Vause wink at her before leaving the Subway Inn, raven-hair and hips swaying as she disappeared into the night, leaving a speechless, hypnotised Piper confused, not much further along in her investigation, and the most frustratingly turned on she had _ever_been.

_F u c k._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys. So I'm REALLY sorry that I haven't updated in forever, life has been so ridiculously hectic and I have been genuinely exhausted every single day. Also, I found this chapter so difficult to write, and I suppose it has essentially turned out as a filler chapter, (no one kill me please ahhhh). However, it was kind of necessary to put this in here, and afterwards there are much more exciting things planned for this story, so please do not panic and stick with it if you will! **

**Thanks for the ongoing reviews and follows and just general love, I always appreciate it. And remember, there are better things to come! xxx**

**ps. this chapter swaps POV after the first bit, before becoming basically Alex-centric. I'm sorry again, it probably doesn't flow very well, but it was honestly the easiest way and I hope it kinda works.**

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**PIPER**

Two days passed.

Piper did not call Alex, she just let thoughts of the raven-haired woman tirelessly eat away at her mind instead. There was not an hour that passed in which Piper did not descend further into the bleak depths of confusion and despair, and the longer she left this obviously imminent phonecall, the more she started to lack control of her actions. On numerous occasions, Piper had ended up with her thumb hovering nervously over the call button on her phone, having once again dialed Alex's number which, _fuck,_she now nearly knew off by heart.

And so it was on this dull Wednesday afternoon on which Piper decided that she could no longer sit at her desk and re-read documents and learn information that she already knew; it was time to see Alex again, and whilst Piper was well aware that she should be trying to extinguish the tiny flickering flame of feelings for the woman, she was currently finding it impossibly difficult to do so. Alex had seemingly brandished herself onto Piper's brain, and whilst Piper should have been epically panicked over this, strangely, she wasn't. She kinda liked it. She kinda liked Alex. Even though she should also hate Alex.

_I do also hate her right? Yes. You're putting her in prison, remember?_ _Uh huh, I remember now, yeah. _ _I surely don't like her reeeeeally. Do I? Nope, shut up, and stop denying that you like her. And shit, there you go again. Thinking about her again. Getting distracted AGAIN. Shit shit shit!_

Piper groaned before downing the remainder of her coffee, _ew, too strong,_ she grimaced, and picked up her phone. Her fingers were now on autopilot as she dialed Alex's number, and before she even had time to contemplate what she was about to do, or even what she was going to say, Piper pressed call.

* * *

**ALEX**

Across the city, Alex forcefully slammed her laptop shut and lazily pushed her glasses back onto the top of her head before rubbing her tired eyes. Yes, she was now ready to admit that she was _fucking_ tired. Tired of dealing with her demanding superiors, her demanding clients, and her demanding schedule. Recently, there had been such a peak in the need for drugs that business was going crazy, and whilst this endless rush was music to Kubra's ears, it certainly was not to Alex's, who was actually the brains behind the successful movement of these copious amounts of heroin, and so had to do all the hard graft. She was currently rushed off her feet, and she wasn't enjoying it, even if she was undoubtedly becoming even more super fucking rich for it, seeing as it wasn't as if she had a load of spare time to go out spending.

And even worse? Alex was rich _with an empty bed_. It had been that way since this manic rush for drugs across the world, and Alex now felt that she was missing something; not even _just _sex, but simply human contact. _How fucking pathetic. _Alex shook her head in disappointment with herself as she gracefully reclined over her obnoxiously large and notably lonely sofa with a glass of deep, velvety red wine; an activity which was becoming an all-too-frequent occurrence in her luxurious upper-east apartment, which, (despite warm, fluffy rugs and plenty of cushions to hug in times of high desperation), was nowadays, deathly silent and upsettingly unpopulated. In fact, during recent weeks, Alex had barely even had the energy to bring anyone home with her, which was a fucking joke considering that she now found herself craving the attention of another. But honestly, she was having increasingly earlier nights now, feeling exhausted all the time, and was, somewhat unwillingly, wholly invested in her work, not romance. But it was better this than getting on the wrong side of Kubra and his people, because that was truly something that she would wish upon no other; being on their good side was great, but being on their bad side was hell, or something even worse than hell; Alex had painfully witnessed enough people suffer at the unforgiving hands of Kubra and his men, and she had quickly decided that she never _ever_ wanted to be even close to putting herself or another in that position_._

Suddenly, Alex's thoughts switched back to the other night, and that Piper kid, at it was like a breath of fresh air filled her lungs, lingered, and caused Alex to smile a little. _Jesus, Piper was something._ Alex licked her lips at the vision of the cute blonde who she'd actually thought about a lot since two days ago. Piper had made a real impression on Alex, who did secretly want to see her again after deciding that she had probably acted a little _too _forward. _Fuck you, alcohol,_ she thought; wishing that she hadn't had any vodka before she'd left her apartment.

There was something weird about Piper Chapman though, Alex also thought. How had she known her last name, for example? That was a little fucking suspicious... Alex noted that she'd have to ask about that, before smiling to herself as she felt some energy slowly seeping back into her system, some _want, _because, after all, Alex Vause did love a challenge.

And so, Piper Chapman was Alex's new project, albeit an easy one, because apart from the name-guessing mystery, Alex knew Piper's type; she was a little WASP. Easy for Alex to play; to entice, and Piper was even easier, because she _already_ wanted Alex, the little blonde had made that quite clear the other night when she'd actually moaned at Alex's fingers as they dared to dance up her leg. It was going to take next to no convincing to persuade the petite blonde to keep Alex's bed warm for her; Alex had played girls like this literally countless times.

Alex stared nonchalantly at the sea of papers flooding her desk. How she would love to bend Piper over that desk and make the girl forget her own name, but then Alex faltered a bit, and sighed sadly, her bravado wavering. It was starting to become startlingly evident to Alex that she felt differently about Piper, and that the innocent college girl deserved more than that. _But that's what you __**do**__. _A sarcastic little voice in her head told her matter-of-factly. _Fuck and forget, it was always fuck and forget, _it yammered on, _until this one. So, apparently this one's- _

_'_Different.' Alex interjected her own inner dialogue, almost shocking herself at the revelation, and how uncomfortably deep her thoughts and feelings were becoming. Alex groaned, before reminding herself that she'd only met this girl once, and mentally scolded herself for being a sap.

Now, the only problem was that Alex was relying on Piper to phone _her. _Fuck. But just as Alex's thoughts began to branch out into bigger, nastier thoughts about how Piper didn't want to ever see her again, the phone rang, causing Alex's to heart jump as she picked up the phone, recognising the voice on the other end immediately as Piper's. Alex couldn't believe this amazing stroke of luck, this day was beginning to look up.

'I knew it. There _is _some weird voodoo shit going on here.' Alex laughed a low, raspy laugh down the phone and Piper incredulously asked her whatever she meant. 'Well, firstly, I was _just _thinking about you, and the next thing I know, you're calling me.' She explained casually.

'I wouldn't call that 'weird voodoo shit', Alex...' Alex could practically see Piper rolling her eyes and air quoting herself.

It was then that Alex decided to just get it over with. 'So then, explain how you knew my last name. _That _was some voodoo shit if I ever saw it.' Alex adjusted her glasses on her nose, she was a little nervous of the plethora of potential answers.

'A guy at the bar gave me your name.' _Anti-climax_, Alex thought, slumping lower on the sofa and unwittingly trusting Piper's thoughtfully constructed lie immediately. 'I was asking about the place and how it possibly made enough money to stay open, and he said that he felt it was basically thanks to the regulars, like himself, and he mentioned you, and some other people too, who's names I can't remember. But then, when I met you, I figured that you were the infamous Alex Vause that he was talking about. Which you were, so... I win.'

'You win _what, _exactly?' Alex sniggered, 'the biggest stalker contest?'

When Piper laughed down the phone, Alex never wanted to forget the sound, and then, when Piper shyly accepted Alex's offer to 'wine and dine' her, Alex found herself beaming like an idiot, and it was safe to say that no previous girl had ever had _that_ effect on her before; it looked like this whole 'seriously liking someone' business was going to take some adjusting to.

'So... I guess I'll see you on Friday night?' Piper chirped up in the midst of a comfortable silence that had descended on the phone line.

'You will, lucky little you.' Alex chuckled, 'I'll pick you up at seven.'

'Okay. I'll see you then, Alex.'

'Wear something sexy.' Alex purred down the phone, she couldn't help but be even a _little_ inappropriate around Piper, she'd realised, but really, the blonde brought it all upon herself, what with those eyes and that mouth and that general face. Alex rubbed her temple with her free hand in a pitiful attempt to relieve herself of this intoxication with Piper, because it was beginning to completely override all of her other thought processes, yet Alex was reluctant to admit that she _wanted _Piper to consume her brain. Hell, she wanted Piper to consume _her_... or vice versa, of course.

'Alex!' Piper exclaimed breathily, snapping Alex out of her daze and bringing her back to the here and now. She imagined that Piper had gone completely red in the face over her last comment, (she was right).

_Kinda cute, let's wind her up a bit. _Alex thought, already feeling much more like her old self again thanks to Piper and her innocence.

'It's a little early for you to be saying my name like _that_, Pipes, don't you think?' Alex toyed with Piper, even though the blonde couldn't see the evil smirk plastered across her face, before reigning herself in. 'Anyway, looking forward to Friday. I'll seeya then, kid.'

'Bye, Alex.'

Alex placed the receiver down and sighed. She wished the call had gone on for longer and she found herself wanting to talk to Piper again already, and already longing for this shitty Wednesday to miraculously transform into Friday night. She couldn't wait for Friday. But Alex paused then, deep in thought; what was one meant to do on a _date? Are flowers compulsory? Is it a shit date_ _if you don't bring flowers? What kind of flowers? Does Piper like Japanese food? Some people have their doubts about sushi... Maybe Piper does. Maybe raw fish freaks her out... Maybe instead we could-_

'Shit, when did I get _so _fucking _soppy?'_Alex shook her head in pure disbelief at the ludicrous stream of concerns that had just played out in her head, before noticing the little demon that was her laptop sat over on her desk, containing all of her orders and emails and _unfinished work _and shit. Alex glared at it, practically able to see little red horns, a pointy tail and a pitchfork all stemming off of that damned thing that she hated so much, particularly at the present, because it was distracting her from planning how to make Friday perfect. 'I'm not sure how,' she growled angrily at the inanimate machine as she marched over to it, 'but _somehow_, it's your fucking fault, you piece of shit. I hate you.' She glared coldly at the keyboard as she jabbed the 'on' button, dreading to see who might have emailed her in the half an hour that she hadn't been slaving away in front of the bright screen.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys. Here's the next bit. After this one it's going to start getting a little more intense, but for me personally, it's super important to get the whole intensity between Piper and Alex first, and **_**then **_**speed up the plot. Don't worry though, it's all written down on a trusty piece of paper now, so I know exactly what I'm doing with the rest of it. Thanks for the follows/likes/reviews as ever. Love ya x**

* * *

'_Wear something sexy.' _ Alex's gravelly tones resonated furiously throughout Piper's head as she aggressively stripped down to jet black, finely detailed, lacy underwear, tossing yet another dress over her shoulder in a random direction, for once completely neglecting the fact that having a messy room would cause a spike in her stress levels. Turning away from her mirror and advancing rapidly across her spacious, almost exclusively white room towards her wardrobe, which took up its own wall, Piper groaned, telling herself that she would clear this mess up later because, right now, she had far more important things to do, such as picking out an outfit for a date with simultaneously the hottest yet most intimidating _woman_ she had ever encountered. A date with a woman was still confusing enough for her, but then Piper remembered, _oh yeah, and you're meant to be building a case against said woman. _Piper sighed and, without any hesitation, downed the remainder of the small glass of white wine that she had helplessly employed in order to suppress the panic that was slowly bubbling up in her chest. Her previously frequent reminders to herself that Alex was technically her enemy were beginning to become a great deal more sparsely included in her inner dialogue, and the more Piper cast even the tiniest, most diffident little thought over Alex Vause, the more she started to dislike the idea of having to effectively imprison the tall, frustratingly striking woman that had occupied so many of her lazy daydreams over the past week; most of which had taken place at work, and had thus resulted in Piper getting nothing productive done over the past few days in the office, even the most basic of paperwork. Feeling like she was fighting a losing battle, Piper shakily lowered herself onto the edge of her bed and rested her head in her hands, exhaling deeply. _Why?_ She cast her eyes up to the ceiling, asking whoever; whatever, was above. Piper was unsure if these unseen forces were truly malevolent, or were just purely taking the piss when there was a knock at the door. Piper's head whipped round, her eyes focussing immediately on the clock on her nightstand, seven o'clock exactly, it read, and Piper broke into nothing short of a cold sweat as she stared listlessly at herself in the mirror, makeup on, but slightly mussed hair and a _severe_ lack of clothes. It was safe to say that Piper was not ready.

'Holy fucking _shit.' _

Piper blindly scrambled through the abundance of clothes that were oh-so-helpfully littered all over her floor, and finally she spotted and grabbed her white, silk robe, cursing herself for not bothering to clear up earlier. It was so ridiculously typical that this one time, where she desperately needed the covering of her trusty robe, was also the one time where it looked as if a tornado had devastatingly swept through her wardrobe, evicting all of the once peacefully hanging garments from within it. Before long there was another, more forceful knocking at the door, and Piper leapt into action, skittering out into the open plan living area towards the door, taking a second to quickly straighten a cushion on the way, and, most importantly, checking that there were no work-related items or files or papers or _anything_ around the room. _No, you locked them in the chest of drawers earlier, stupid, _Piper's mind scolded her for panicking. As her slender fingers nervously closed around the door handle, Piper took one last look around at her bright, sleekly furnished flat, in which every kitchen surface was a shining pale granite, every wall was showcasing a selection of modern art, and every DVD on the far shelf was most certainly alphabetised. _Pristine,_ she nodded to herself in approval of her home before hastily unlocking the door and opening it. Piper was immediately glad that she'd had that tiny amount of wine, because she was going to need all the bold confidence she could muster this evening considering the vision before her. There stood Alex, as tall and speechlessness-inducing as Piper remembered, but this time, with her previously straight hair in loose, cascading curls which were as dark as night itself, more pronounced eyeliner flicks, and an outfit to end any of the outfits that were currently lying on Piper's bedroom floor. Alex wore an immaculately black midi dress with a plunging neckline and long sleeves made of a fine, dark mesh, along with one of the most stunning necklaces that Piper had ever seen, a daintily bejewelled choker made of the finest, most glimmering stoneswhich Piper ogled thinking, _fuck me, they could even be diamonds.._. The whole outfit clung to Alex's body like a second skin, and Piper didn't even try to resist roaming her eyes over every faultless curve of Alex's. Her ass looked amazing, her boobs looked amazing, and her face looked _fucking _amazing_._ Piper felt like a horny teenager as she so openly admired the wonderful form of Alex Vause; so wonderful in fact, that Piper hadn't actually said anything since she'd opened the door. _You, _Piper mentally kicked herself, embarrassed, _are a fucking idiot, Piper. A fucking __**idiot.**_

"Hey, Pipes." Alex's smirk was obvious; it looked like she was almost laughing, and the little voice in Piper's head scoffed. _Yep, she's got you, Chapman, you're done. Good luck, you fucker._ With that, the voice departed, and Piper's head was comfortably empty. She shyly smoothed out the creases in her robe, which she was now realising was scandalously short, and cleared her throat, before looking up at Alex. "Hey there." Piper said sheepishly. She smiled a little and started to feel her cheeks flush when Alex raised an eyebrow questioningly and cast her eyes over Piper's form in the most painstakingly slow and blatant fashion that Piper had ever experienced. Long, toned legs, a fucking robe that only just skimmed Piper's thighs and tousled blonde hair was all glaring Alex in the face, and there was little she could do to avoid commenting.

"So, did you dress for _after _the date before we've even beenon the date?" Alex leaned casually in the doorframe, folding her arms and chuckling that low chuckle that had fast become one of Piper's favourite sounds. "Bit presumptuous, Pipes, dontcha think?" Alex wiggled her eyebrows and Piper smiled goofily, hanging her head to conceal her embarrassment before explaining to Alex that she simply hadn't picked an outfit for the evening yet and was running a bit late, and so Piper insisted that the taller woman wait in her apartment for a few minutes. Alex crossed the threshold into the apartment and looked at Piper again, seeing that she was a little nervous and thinking it sweet, even though 'sweet' was not typically an adjective that resided in Alex's vocabulary. But tonight, Alex could've sworn that cardiac problems were imminent due to the blonde's irradiating shyness, yet subtle sexiness that was currently rendering Alex's lungs useless.

_Fuck that fucking robe._

It was at this moment that Alex Vause decided that she would play nice this evening, by toning down her regular, crude comments in a hope that she would have more success with Piper, which is ultimately what she wanted. Well, no, ultimately she wanted Piper to cum, actually. _All in good time, _Alex licked her lips; eyeing Piper as she sauntered off into what the taller woman imagined must have been the blonde's bedroom, somewhere that she so desperately hoped that she would become familiar with sooner or later...hopefully sooner. The deliciously scheming raven-haired woman gracefully lowered herself into a plush armchair and crossed her legs; _all in good time, _she told herself again_._

Generally, Alex prided herself in being quite a patient person; she was pretty chill. But when Piper failed to emerge from the bedroom after nearly fifteen minutes, even Alex and her mellow attitude were getting fidgety. Standing up, she decided that she'd give Piper a little longer and, in the meantime, have a snoop around her apartment, which was perfectly reasonable considering that the majority of it appeared to be contained in this airy expanse of open plan living. Alex trailed her hand delicately along the granite breakfast bar which divided the kitchen from the rest of the space, and noticed how there was not a speck of dust anywhere, and clutter was completely absent from every corner of the apartment. _Neat freak, _Alex quickly deduced, and this somewhat unsurprising observation was quickly confirmed as Alex pulled open a couple of kitchen drawers to find pots and pans fitted perfectly around each other, crockery stacked meticulously, and the utensils adequately arranged so that they could all be seen. Alex's eyes bulged a little at that final drawer, her eyes scanning each carefully placed utensil curiously, lingering on a fair few and her mind simply thinking, _what the FUCK is that? _Honestly, anything past a wooden spoon or a whisk was a little too technical for Alex; the last time she checked, you did not need half of these strange items to eat Chinese takeaway, which was the style of 'cooking' that she was more accustomed to. Gently shutting the drawer, Alex sauntered back into the main living area, and with there still being no sign of Piper, she wondered over to a nearby chest of drawers absentmindedly. Had the key not been sat welcomingly in the lock, Alex wouldn't have dared inspect the second drawer down in understanding that it most likely housed something, or things, that were sentimental, or important, _or kinky._ Alex rolled her eyes at her fleeting thoughts as she tried to ignore the burning desire that had been set alight within her: she wanted to know what was in that drawer. _The key is right there, Alex. _Her mind taunted. _She's practically left it there for you to use. Go on. _The dark voice prompted and prompted her, but quickly as Alex reached out a hand to make her discovery, she retracted it. Whatever was in there was private, and so Alex would respect Piper's wishes and keep it that way. If it was anyone else, then she probably wouldn't have spared them a second thought, and would have eagerly unlocked the weird, secret keeping drawer. _But Piper is different, for fucks sake._ Alex wondered two things at this point: one, how someone had managed to finally instate good-girl morals in her, and two, _why_ this someone was running so late.

Having had enough, Alex stormed over to the bedroom, and, without thinking, flung open the door, which suddenly brought her face to face with Piper, who had obviously been about to exit the room. As Alex's gaze fell upon Piper, her train of thought crashed, leaving her brain deathly silent and her mouth unfortunately incapable of forming any words. Instead, Alex just looked; she looked Piper up and down, for a good ten seconds. The blonde wore smart, black shorts that weren't a great deal longer than her previous, skimpy robe, tucked into which was a white chiffon blouse which boasted a delectably plummeting neckline, and thus showed off a long, slender v-shape of lightly bronzed skin, which appeared as if it would be irresistibly smooth to touch. Alex swallowed nervously and willed herself to say something, but it was safe to say that for once, despite all these years of badass-ness, she was speechless. Yes, Alex Vause was practically speechless, and Piper Chapman was:

"Beautiful..." the word softly escaped Alex's mouth as if it was an accident, and colour began to spread across her porcelain face immediately.

Piper looked up at Alex with widened, blue Bambi eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and her expression was once of the sweetest innocence intermingled with the tiny flecks of anxiety that Alex could see so clearly in the shorter woman's blue orbs. For a moment, Alex had exposed herself; she had let her sarcastic, hard exterior come crumbling down, and this had left Piper in a state of shock. The shorter woman's mind, which, for the past fifteen or so minutes, had been buzzing and trying its hardest to focus Piper on matters of work, slowed down to a sluggish and unresponsive pace, and it was at this moment where Piper first saw Alex as something other than a dangerously attractive criminal. It was at _this _moment where Piper saw vulnerability, warmth, and the tiniest flicker of bashfulness in the usually steely eyes of Alex Vause, and Piper was helplessly drawn to it, much like the pole of a magnet to its opposite.

Alex cleared her throat a little awkwardly and began to move towards the door. "Shall we go?" She smiled crookedly, trying to regain the confidence that she usually harboured within her but was finding increasingly hard to tap into where Piper was concerned. Piper nodded and joined Alex on the other side of the room, where the taller woman had already opened the door. Piper mentally recalled the answers that she needed from Alex this evening, despite the fact that they were becoming fuzzier and fuzzier, as was the whole 'work' segment of her brain. Satisfied that she could just about remember them all, but worryingly, becoming gradually less keen to gather this information, Piper locked the door behind them, before turning round to see Alex standing, gazing at her; waiting for her. Piper stared back intently. _Who cares if she's a woman, _the little voice was back, apparently with a new perspective on things, _she's fucking wonderful. _

"What?" Alex's amused, low tones filled the empty corridor as the pair waited for the lift to get down to street level. Piper shrugged and half-smiled at her, to which Alex cocked her head, smiling back. "No, seriously, what?" She said, more fixedly, "you gotta tell me." She whined, nudging Piper in the arm, who turned to look at her, the blonde's expression was something that Alex couldn't quite read.

"You look beautiful too." Piper said quietly, before a sudden ding indicated that the lift had arrived, slashing through the comfortable silence that had descended on the pair.

As they stepped inside the lift, neither Alex nor Piper could hide their smiles.

_Hook, line and sinker, Vause. You're a gonner. _Alex adjusted her glasses, still reeling inside from what Piper had said to her. There was something about Piper. She wanted to blindly trust Piper with all of her deepest, darkest secrets. Maybe she should.

_You're about to have a massive problem here. _Piper knew her conscience was right. _You're going to have to make some choices. Some very hard choices, and very soon. _Right again, Piper wanted to wince. She knew what was coming, she knew what she was feeling, and she knew that a terrifying ultimatum was hurtling her way. Piper shivered.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey all. Once again, I'm so sorry that it's taken an eternity to update, but life is just... I don't know, mental, I guess. I'm trying my best. I thought this chapter was kinda sweet, and then after this it is about to get intense. Again, sorry it's been so slow. It's a joke, I know, please don't hate me. But all the follows/likes/reviews/even just people reading it makes it worthwhile and makes me happy. So thank you so much. X**

* * *

Generally speaking, Alex Vause did not play the dating game, but it was quickly becoming apparent that Piper Chapman did not fall into the 'general' category. She was far from it, in Alex's opinion. Piper was funny and sweet and _interesting,_ and this was the very thing that had fiercely grasped Alex's usually waning attention, instrumentally deconstructing her entire 'fuck-and-forget' philosophy. The brunette had brought Piper to a tiny little Italian, not far from where she lived, where the food was divine, the wine was dry and the prices were dear. Not that Alex minded the expensiveness though, as the homely restaurant was one of her absolute favourites; Alex had been a long-serving customer, and had grown to know the staff fairly well, and so, admittedly she had surprised herself at her own decision to bring Piper here. Had this been another girl, (not that she would have even fucking _bothered_ taking another girl out on a date), Alex would've opted to dine at a completely random fine food establishment which would have likely carried a fancy French name, had a marble floor and walls, and housed a menu displaying prices that would have curled the toes of even the wealthiest of businessmen in very mild disdain. But no, she was sharing one of her, what she liked to consider 'secret', hangouts with a girl whom she had met not even a fucking week ago, but strangely enough, Alex felt fine about it. Hell, Alex felt happy about it.

It was as the pair leisurely indulged in their food, (a pizza for Alex and pasta for Piper), that Alex realised how much she relished in simply listening to Piper talking; talking in this bright, animated fashion, in a tone that radiated charisma. Piper told Alex about many things in an effort to avoid talk of her job, so instead, Piper focussed on her relatively privileged upbringing, her younger brother, Cal, who was slightly estranged and seriously hippie, and finally, the current topic of conversation was the blonde's mother. Alex had only been faintly listening for the past few minutes, as she had found herself entranced by the adorable vision of a little frown creeping its way onto Piper's face as her description of her mother's character had deepened somewhat. _Pull it together._ Something in her brain piped up.

"It's called 'helicopter parenting', you know," Piper snorted matter-of-factly, and Alex nodded, now listening as Piper continued keenly, "it's like, where your parents watch your every move, and they don't want you to do anything, or go anywhere, or see anyone, unless they've, I don't know, _approved_ it, or something. They circulate...like a helicopter." She rolled her eyes, "how annoying, right?" Piper questioned Alex, "I bet your mother isn't like that at all, I bet she's really cool, your mum." Piper mused, chewing a forkful of pasta thoughtfully whilst failing to notice the sudden rigidity in Alex's shoulders, and the downcast direction of the brunette's eyes.

"She was cool," Alex simply said, "she was really fucking cool."

At this, Piper's eyes widened slightly and she gently placed her fork down, her mouth slightly droopy. Alex couldn't quite fucking believe that she had revealed to Piper the most painful information that her heart had ever had to grapple with, and occasionally still struggled with, but over the course of the evening, Alex had come to trust Piper more and more. Piper could know whatever she wanted about Alex, if she wished. When Piper quietly apologised, a look of burning heartache and sincerity blazing in her blue eyes, Alex simply shrugged and told her that "shit happens." Because, for now, the brunette wasn't in the mood to dwell on the death of her mother; there were brighter prospects sat opposite her.

When the bill finally arrived, Alex initially didn't even let Piper look, despite the fact that she insisted on paying half, and then proceeded to whine incessantly that it was unfair of Alex to not let her even glimpse the figure. Alex rolled her eyes at the childish display that was unfurling before her, and so reluctantly slid the paper across the table, where the shorter woman grabbed it, scanned it, and then stared, gob-smacked at Alex, who simply smirked.

"I told you," she said, "I'm paying. Calm the fuck down." She smiled that crooked smile, and Piper's shoulders relaxed slightly.

"But Alex, I-" Piper was about to insist to pay again, Alex could tell, so she shook her head firmly and stood up, handing the waiter a clearly sufficient amount of money. "La mancia è in là, Franco. Grazie." Alex said casually in perfect Italian, as the waiter, Franco, Piper guessed, nodded gratefully and raised his eyebrow a little.

"Alex!" Franco called out after her as the pair was leaving the now practically empty restaurant, causing Alex to turn round. "Non più tavoli per uno, sì?" He laughed heartily and Alex shrugged a little, and smiled what Piper was, from this moment forward, going to regard as the most adorable smile in the world. "Ti piace di lei?" Franco leant casually on the far wall, a coy smile spreading across his features as he noticed Alex's cheeks flush a little. Piper noticed this too, but the language barrier was working against her, albeit in Alex's favour.

"Tabella per due la prossima volta, Franco." Alex said, genuinely. "Well, I hope, anyway." She added, and Franco chuckled before waving her goodbye. Piper had been weak at the knees when she'd first heard Alex speak _English, _so, as one can imagine, as soon as Piper's ears picked up the sound of Alex's low, raspy tones constructed into wonderful, eloquent Italian, it was safe to say that Piper Chapman may have found her one true weakness, and her mind immediately plummeted to the filthy depths of the gutter, wondering what dirty Italian things Alex could whisper in her ear, or if Alex could seduce her in Italian.

_Dear Alex, please seduce me in Italian._

* * *

There was then the walk home, for which Piper was very thankful, as it gave her time to regain her composure and collect her thoughts, because it was now that she decided to probe a little. That way, she could definitely say that she'd gotten some work done that evening. _Who says that business and pleasure don't mix? _ She tried to reassure herself as herself and Alex fell into step beside one another, the crisp New York air hitting their faces. Winter was hastening its arrival, and already, night time in the city was becoming far less inviting without a coat and scarf, especially as of late, when light smatterings of frost were dusted across grasses, like icing sugar across a cake. But Piper loved it. Coldness was clean and fresh, and she was currently enjoying it fully as herself and Alex strolled through one end of Central Park in the general direction of the blonde's apartment. _Thank god it's not warm, _Piper thought, _you'd be breaking out in even more of a sweat if that was the case, wouldn't you. _Piper enjoyed that her mind phrased that as a statement as opposed to a question. _Speaking of questions..._

"What's it like?" Piper suddenly turned her head to look at Alex, who looked back down at her questioningly, her pale face illuminated by the moonlight, head slightly cocked, one eyebrow raised, and her hair intermittently being gently tousled by the wind; Alex looked majestic, Piper supposed, she looked high and mighty and powerful, and it was like magnetism: Piper was attracted to her so very, very strongly.

"What's what like?" Alex simply asked, looking straight ahead ahead.

"What's it like to do your job?" Piper's tone was innocent, yet genuine. She was interested in Alex's job, but reasons which were previously work-related were slowly transmogrifying into more personal reasons. Alex chuckled a little.

"There must be more interesting things to talk about like my job, kid." It was true, Alex believed that there were. Just because she was, well, she _once_, was completely absorbed in her own job; it didn't mean that anyone else gave a shit, apart from Piper, apparently, who shook her head.

"We've been talking about my boring-ass life all night," Piper laughed, "tell me about your job." She shrugged, and added a soft "please." Alex obliged to this, and explained that she was an importer working for the ring, that no, she did not do the drugs, she just moved them around and made sure that money got to where it needed to be, when it needed to be there, that yes, it paid 'okay', as she cautiously put it, and that no, this had not at all been her plan all along. Had Alex wanted to be getting into a deep conversation about her pathetic excuse for a father, and how, if it wasn't for that fateful night in a grimy, drug-infested, damp back room at his concert, all those years ago then she wouldn't be in this position right now? No, Alex did not want to get into that conversation, and especially not with Piper, as Piper would probably be disgusted. "So uh, yeah, that's basically me." Alex smiled awkwardly, a little self-consciously; and whilst Piper's well-trained brain had certainly memorised all of the information Alex had volunteered, for the most part, she didn't give a _shit _right now.

"Tell me more." She suddenly said. "I want to know more." Alex smiled and began to talk about things that weren't her job, and Piper didn't care, because Piper didn't want to know about Alex's job any more tonight. Piper just wanted to know about _Alex_. She wanted to know every little fucking thing that hid behind those deep, character-filled eyes that sometimes pierced through you like a sharp, blistering wind, yet sometimes invited you in. Currently, they were warm; they were inviting Piper in, and when Alex's hand shyly clasped around Piper's, fingers tentatively entwining with one another, Piper smiled up at her, noting that the eyes were even warmer, now.

* * *

It should not have taken an hour to get back to Piper's apartment, but it did. _Maybe it was because you let her push you on the fucking swings in the park_, Piper wanted to cringe at her inner child that had somehow escaped in front of Alex, but she didn't. Instead, she smiled dreamily into her steaming cup of herbal tea, inhaling the fruity infusion as she curled up tighter on the sofa, eyes closed. The rest of the walk home had involved giggling, playful shoving, eyebrow raising, _(fuck, how Piper loved the eyebrow raising), _and just general chat: favourite colours, favourite animals, favourite places in the world, of which Alex had plenty. But then, it was facts like that that now, late at night, when she was alone, reminded Piper of who Alex was. Alex had been everywhere _because _of who she was, her job was a part of her, and Piper gulped as she realised that the fate of the storm that was Alex Vause was effectively in her hands. _Shit._ Piper retired to her bed, but she didn't sleep, she sat and thought, long and hard, because the situation had escalated as of this evening.

It had only been as the pair had reached Piper's apartment block that the blonde's realisation of the scale of her feelings for Alex Vause became apparent.

"Well, this is you." Alex had said with a half smile on her face as she slowly slipped her hand out of Piper's, who was saddened at the loss of contact. It felt like a light switch had been flicked off, and as Piper's heart grew a little heavy, Alex's eyes grew a little dimmer. She'd felt it too.

"Thank you, Alex. I had an amazing night," Piper studied the beautiful vision that was Alex's face_. _"Thank you for everything." Piper said quietly, almost expressionless as she continued her observations of the other woman, practically iridescent in the frosty moonlight, her dark hair strikingly contrasting the pale, creamy skin of her face, neck, _and those collarbones. _Piper found herself wanting to trace a finger lightly along them, or kiss them. And that thought propelled her pupils towards Alex's full, red lips, which were currently turned upward slightly at the right corner, in a display of something. Impatience, triumph, maybe even nonchalance? Piper didn't know, but she liked that she didn't know. Alex Vause was still shrouded in mystery for the most part, and it was so alluring, so very alluring.

A blast of icy air sent a shiver spiralling down Piper's spine, and she shuddered involuntarily in the cold. Alex rubbed the top of her arm. "Hey, you should get yourself upstairs to bed, kid." She then smiled, a little shyly, "But, I had a great night too. I'll see you round, for sure." Alex wanted to curse herself, believing her own tone to have been far too casual, considering how badly she wanted to see Piper again. She immediately began to worry that she'd given off the wrong vibe as she had adjusted her glasses and turned on her heel to head back to her apartment.

"Alex." Piper had followed her for the few steps she had taken, and Alex was about to start _grovelling_ as not to upset Piper; that was the last thing she had wanted.

But what Alex had been unaware of, is that her cool, casual tone _had_ struck a nerve with Piper, but in a way far from what the brunette had assumed. Piper had been building up to this for the past five minutes, and Alex's simple farewell had been the catalyst for it.

Barely knowing what she was doing, Piper Chapman had pushed her own body flush to Alex's on this deserted New York street corner, and captured the taller woman's lips with her own in a sudden surge of confidence and longing. It had taken Alex all of two seconds to get her bearings before her hands had come to rest comfortably together in the small of Piper's back and she'd gladly returned the kiss. It was slow, and it was innocent, and it made each party very happy.

"I'll see you round, Alex." Piper drawled, using Alex's own words from earlier before strutting back towards her apartment building, into which she disappeared, leaving a stunned Alex gaping on the street corner, before her slightly parted lips melted into a contented smile.

* * *

When Piper decided that sleep was finally achievable now, it was because she was at peace. Work tomorrow was going to be interesting to say the very least. The FBI was not going to like this one bit, neither was she, and neither was anyone, really. _You don't want to do that, surely. You must be fucking crazy. _Some tiny voice at the back of her brain piped up out of nowhere, piercing through the darkness that plagued both the room and Piper's mind, to which she felt the need to physically reply to in order to suppress the unwanted opinion.

"I _do _want to do that. It's what's best."


End file.
